Australia will step up pressure on Japan to cut decades-old barriers to imports of important agricultural products after a decision by the Japanese government to join region-wide free trade talks.

In a new sign of a bolder approach to try to lift the Japanese economy out of its long stagnation, the Abe administration has sought and been granted membership of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade negotiations, which aim to create a Pacific-wide free-trade zone. Japan was admitted after members, which do not include China, were assured Japan was willing to put all issues covering barriers to entry to Japanese markets on the negotiating table.

But it remained unclear, despite the decision of the 11 TPP member countries to invite Japan to participate in the talks, to what extent Japan was really prepared to lower trade barriers on sensitive agricultural products, or whether the willingness to put all issues on the table was simply a means to join a pro­cess with potentially large implications for the Pacific-region economies.

Trade policy analysts will be concerned that highly protectionist Japan’s involvement in the negotiations could ultimately limit the ambition of the negotiations and result in a severely crimped outcome. The decision by Japan to seek membership of the TPP, however, is a major surprise.

Before the recent Japanese election it had been ruled out by political leaders because of the extreme political sensitivity of any threat to expose key commodities such as rice and dairy products to competition from imports.

But the new centre-right Abe administration, which has launched a bold and controversial series of major economic actions to revive the Japanese economy, has now, at least tentatively, indicated that a more open Japanese economy will be part of its strategy.

Australia, which held back its approval for Japan’s admission to the TPP until it got assurances that Japan was committed to an ambitious plan for cutting trade barriers, welcomed the Japanese move.

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“With the world’s third-biggest economy, Japan’s entry in the TPP adds great weight to the grouping," Dr Emerson told The Australian Financial Review.

He said Japan would take its place at the negotiating table for the first time in about three months when the issue of access to Japanese markets would be on the table. Negotiations on a separate FTA between Australia and Japan would continue.

The Canadian, Mexican and New Zealand governments also held back initially from signing up to Japan’s involvement after the United States indicated it wanted Japan to be involved in the TPP talks. They were also concerned that Japan’s entry had to be on the condition that it signed up to the bold aims initially set for a Pacific-region FTA.

The decision for Japan to join the TPP talks was taken at a meeting of TPP trade ministers attending a gathering of the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation forum ministers in Indonesia over the weekend.

Despite the new hopes expressed for a successful outcome to the TPP negotiations – which the Obama administration wants wrapped up this year – ministers at the meeting in Surabaya expressed pessimism about progress in reviving the moribund Doha round or global free-trade negotiations.

A new attempt to revive the Doha round is to be made at a conference in Bali later this year.

Analysts said it appeared enthusiasm for a global trade deal had waned as efforts to do regional trade agreements such as through the TPP were gaining greater attention.

With the inclusion of Japan, a TPP trade agreement would involve 12 countries and would cover about 40 per cent of world trade.

China has still not sought or been offered an invitation to join the TPP.